I recommend the Latitude's instead of Inspiron's if you can afford it. Check out the current state-of-art but they typically support more RAM (different BIOS etc).

Also...if you intend to be mobile, a smaller screen is worth it's reduced weight in gold. My 1400x1050 screen has me lugging a laptop about twice as heavy as I'd like. It was ok the first few weeks, but ever since I've had back ache everytime I lug it (and don't look forward to travelling if I have to carry it any significant distance - even walking between buildings is a pain).

Have you been able to get your data back at all? IMHO thats stage one. I know they make mini-IDE to standard IDE connectors, usually with a power plug as well. I can ask a guy here at work where we got some, as I know they are a tad harder to find.

Once you get the data back, PLEASE put your sources somewhere backed up! You can use my home CVS server if you'd like. GravityBattle must live!

I'm with the PowerBook camp. Thats going to be my next computer purchase. Since I don't have one, I can't say much though. :/

Regards,Dr. A>

PS - Go for whatever laptop will give you a fairly decent graphics card. Since you can't change it once you purchase (excluding one from AlienWare I believe), pick something that won't tie you down in that area.

Yeah. I have a Inspiron 4100. It's OK, but not great. I got it because it was lighter than the 8100's. I'd been unimpressed by Dell's service in the past, so I got only the basic one year warrentee. Here's what happened so far:

- it shipped with about 7 bad pixels. I asked to get it fixed, but they said that was normal. I then asked to return it and they exchanged it for one with no bad pixels. That left a bad taste, but at least I got a good screen out of the deal.

- after a few months it became very difficult to start or shut it down via the power button. I didn't want to mail it back, so I lived with this.

- after one year, the hinges started creaking and the battery life went to about 30 minutes. I ended up buying a better battery from ebay.

- after about one and a half years the right LCD hinge broke. Bummer. I lived with it like this, using an external monitor instead.

- after about two years the hard drive froze solid. At this point, I got tired of the problems and replaced the hard drive and bought a new upper panel from Dell parts. It was more difficult than I imagined to buy from Dell spare parts, but it was much cheaper than the repair price they want. Replacing the panel was pretty easy. I thought I was done with repairs.

- now (just a bit more than two years later) the LCD inverter is dying. The LCD won't display unless I boot on battery power, and then makes a high pitch hum. This is quite annoying! And worse, I have the option of getting a completely new LCD screen from Dell (at like $600 or so) or hunting around for the right LCD inverter.

During my research into the repairs, I found these are all common problems with Insiprons. The Lattitude models we have at work are better constructed, but still have component failures. The best part of Dell's support seems to be its diehard members in the Dell forums. Email support is awful, but you can get your point across after a few exchanges. Phone support is hit or miss, but mostly miss.

Personally, I'm ready for an Apple laptop, but I'm holding out for a G5 (or at least a dual core G4). I'm typing this on a Powermac G5, which is very impressive.

If I had to get a PC laptop, I'd look into IBM. Or consider the laptop disposable.

[edit] I should have added that it runs Linux pretty well. Well, except for the build-in winmodem.

I have a Toshiba Satellite. I've owned it for 1.5 years. I'm very used to having to reinstall Windows at LEAST twice a year because my computers always get really slow over time. However, I've been on this install for the whole 1.5 years and it's still as fast as can be. I've only ever had to force a reboot with the power button when locked up from trying games posted on this forum that aren't too friendly in early stages

I have one single complaint, just one. I've had keys pop off the keyboard and need replacing. HOWEVER, due to the slick way they made the keys (which I've never seen on another laptop) the underside is still flat, and it functions perfectly as a key without the cover. Since it's the arrow keys that have popped off, and they still work perfectly well being flat and all, I haven't bothered calling to replace (which they'll do for free if I ask).

Even my desktop PC's have never been as stable as this machine. I am very pleased. When I found it, it was also the cheapest 2ghz laptop I could find.

i'm looking for another laptop as well. i currently have an ibm x22. the thing has taken some serious abuse and keeps on ticking. at work i pound on a painfully slow inspiron 7500 which has had a keyboard and screen replacement (1999 model) but keeps on ticking.

i'm currently looking at the samsung m40 and x30, which are the lightest and thinnest notebooks i know of ( even lighter than powerbooks ) i'm also looking at the ibm t41p which can also passthrough to dvi. the new inspiron 9200 also looks nice and is cheap, but it is a tad heavy and not available until mid december.

i'd love for some of the powerbook owners to chime in about what aspects or features of the osX/powerbook choice beats x86/linux/xp.

Hah! That won't help you any! The cheap plastic in the Toshiba won't stand a chance against a rock! You should've hid behind a Mac! ;-)

Speaking of which, I'm amazed at how well Mac Laptops hold together. Most PC laptops these days are made of very flimsy plastic that makes it far too easy to damage internal components. In comparison, I was on the bus the other day working on my iBook. The bus driver stopped suddenly (I still don't know why) and everyone grabbed for something to keep from flying forward. Unfortunately, a lady seated perpendicular to myself wasn't so lucky. She went stumbling off her seat and landed right on my open laptop screen! The hinge bent backwards and I heard a mild "crunch". I was absolutely certain that the screen and the keyboard were no longer the same component.

Yet low and behold, when she got up I found that the hinge was still intact! Her fall seems to have broken an internal component that helps keep the swivel straight, but otherwise the laptop was undamaged! I took it to the Apple store, and they said they can repair it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to bother. The damage really isn't that bad, and the laptop works just fine. How's that for good engineering! ;-)

In any case, I'm stealing the spotlight from Kev. It's definitely cool that Windows machines are now OEMing Java. It creates a larger userbase for us developers and saves the user from large downloads. It also helps Windows catch up with Mac OS X.

was it toshiba or microsoft that was responsible for java being installed though? i bet it was toshiba.

i just reinstalled XP on my inspiron 8000. it's about 3 years old now. the battery only lasts 10 minutes, the cd-rom drive only works when it feels like, but other than that, it's working ok. my next computer is probably going to be the smallest powerbook (those things are tiny!) so i can carry it easy.

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